JARAGUA DO SUL, Brazil – Jussier Formiga had a tough act to follow, but for the most part, he got the job done.

Formiga used stifling top control to keep Chris Cariaso at bay for the first 10 minutes, then survived Cariaso’s late rally to win a unanimous decision with 29-28 scores on all three cards.

The flyweight bout, which followed a slugfest of a card opener between Lucas Martins and Jeremy Larsen, was part of Saturday’s UFC on FX 8 event at Arena Jaragua in Jaragua do Sul, Santa Catarina, Brazil. It streamed on Facebook prior to FUEL TV prelims and the FX-televised main card.

Formiga delivered in outside leg kick early before looking for a takedown from the clinch. Cariaso fended it off for a bit, but finally had to hit the floor. Cariaso got back to his feet, but Formiga took him right back down and into side control along the fence. Formiga controlled the action on the ground, setting the pace for most of the fight. Although he wasn’t inflicting a lot of damage, he actively worked to pass to mount – and did twice momentarily before Cariaso was able to quickly regain full guard. With a minute left, referee Kevin Mulhall stood the two up, a good break for Cariaso, though he wasn’t able to do anything with it.

Cariaso tried to blitz forward immediately in the second, but Formiga quickly put him on his back and went straight to mount. Cariaso was able to get out of the dangerous position, but he remained on his back unable to work much offense. With a little less than two minutes left, Mulhall again stood them up. Cariaso was able to land a few shots on the feet and defended a takedown attempt late in the round. But it was fairly clear he’d need a finish in the third.

Formiga got inside on a single-leg 30 seconds into the third and worked for it till he had Cariaso on the ground. As Cariaso got back to his feet, the two clinched up without much action until Mulhall broke them with three minutes left. Cariaso landed a pair of nice left hands, but again Formiga tied him up. But Cariaso put Formiga in trouble with a D’Arce choke that had the Brazilian scrambling. And with 80 seconds left, Cariaso got a takedown and tried to go to work on Formiga from side control. He looked for a a guillotine, then short elbows that had Formiga bloodied up. It proved to be too little, too late – but Formiga was worse for the wear, despite the victory.

“It was going well, but he really threw me off in the third round with that guillotine, and then after that with an elbow,” Formiga said. “The guillotine was actually very tight and I had to power my way out of it. But I kept thinking I might black out, but I wouldn’t tap out. I came in with the extra pressure of having lost in my debut, but thank God it all worked out and I’m very happy about this victory in Brazil.”

Formiga (15-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) is back in the win column after a loss in his UFC debut this past October to John Dodson. He now has won six of his past seven fights. Cariaso (14-5 MMA, 4-3 UFC) now has lost back-to-back fights since dropping to flyweight with a loss to John Moraga in December.

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